Taming the Beast
by I Am The Mystical Penguin
Summary: Chapter 13 of LORD OF THE FLIES. (An English assignment, of course)


Author's Note:  Yes, like many before me, I have been forced to read the highly praised (by English teachers) book known as Lord of the Flies.  No, not Lord of the Rings; Lord of the FLIES!  Brings beautiful imagery to the mind, doesn't it?  I read the book.  I didn't care much for it, but I read it.  Then my tyrant English teacher (I complain about her often, get used to it.  :-P) sentenced me to write a chapter 13 for the book.  Personally, I think the book should've been put out of its misery long before chapter 10 but, that's just me.  If you absolutely loved the book and are looking for more (even if Golding didn't write it) then read my beautiful 9.25 page long chapter 13.  (I know it's long.  The required number of pages for the assignment was 7-10 pages)  If you have been doomed with the same assignment then feel free to read my story for ideas.  Please don't plagiarize!  I spent 5 whole hours (minus time for dinner and munching on 2-day-old Halloween candy) late on Sunday night typing the darn thing.

AND NOW…without further ado, I present to you for your "enjoyment" the final chapter of Lord of the Flies!

**Chapter 13:  Taming the Beast**

The boys trudged slowly after the officer as he led them to the ship.  Jack trailed a few feet behind the group, staring intently at his bare and dirty feet.

One by one, they boarded the ship and were then greeted by several more naval officers.  Ralph had never before been so happy and so relieved to be surrounded by adults.

As the last child staggered onto the ship, one of the officers asked, "Weren't there any adults on the island?"  The officer who spoke was tall with broad shoulders and had a short blonde moustache.

"No, sir," Ralph answered even though the question wasn't directed towards him.

The officer who led the boys onto the ship shook his head to confirm Ralph's response.

"Well then," said the tall officer, scanning the group and counting a total of twenty-two boys.  "I suppose the first thing we should do is to get you boys cleaned up."

Another officer, short with dark curly hair, stepped forward and beckoned the boys to follow him.  All of the boys, except for Ralph, immediately scampered after the officer.

 The tall officer leaned forward until his and Ralph's eyes were at the same level.  "Is something wrong, kiddo?"

Ralph ignored the officer's question and stared out at the island as though in deep concentration.  He couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Simon and Piggy weren't killed?  What would have happened if they were rescued weeks earlier?  What would have happened if the ship had arrived a few minutes later?  Ralph shuddered at the thought of the last scenario and shook himself out of his trance.

Ralph was startled when he found himself face to face with the tall officer.

"Hey, kid?  Are you okay?" the tall officer asked, sounding a bit concerned.

Ralph nodded quickly and then dashed off to join the boys getting cleaned up.  On his way, Ralph ran into a strange boy with fiery red hair, fierce blue eyes, and a face full of freckles.

"Hey!  Watch it!" the boy scowled.

Ralph recognized the voice right away but the boy's face didn't quite seem to match.  Without the mass amount of paint to hide his face, Jack seemed almost like a completely different person.  Jack's tattered shorts had also been replaced with a clean set of clothes.

Ralph nearly laughed at Jack's transformation from a savage beast back into a young British schoolboy.  He hurriedly covered his mouth in an attempt to stifle the sound.

Jack leered at Ralph, his cheeks almost matching the color of his hair.  "I almost had you."

Jack walked passed Ralph, intentionally bumping into him as he went.  Ralph stood motionless with all color drained from his face.  Jack's appearance may have changed but his personality was the same as when he set the island on fire.

When the feeling finally returned to his limbs, Ralph sprinted ahead to find the place where he could wash up.

*     *     *

Now clean for the first time in months, Ralph strolled down the long corridors on the ship.  He peeked into all of the ship's rooms as he walked by, trying to find out where the other boys were.

A light rustle in a room several doors down caught his attention.  Ralph sauntered over to the room and eagerly peered inside.  A puzzled expression came across his face when the room proved to be empty.  With a shrug, Ralph continued down the hallway but stopped short when he heard another sound coming from the same room.

Certain now that someone or something was in the room, Ralph dashed back inside the room.  His eyes darted around the room, trying to find the source of the noises.

Ralph jumped back with a yelp when two figures emerged from a nearby closet and crashed into the floor just a few feet ahead of him.  He let out a sigh of relief when Samneric smiled back up at him.

"Hey Ralph!" the twins said in unison.

"What are you doing?" Ralph asked.

Sam pointed to a rat scurrying across the floorboards while Eric, licking his lips, prepared to pounce on the small, furry creature.

"Wait!  Don't you get it?  We've been rescued!  We don't need to catch our food anymore!"  Ralph exclaimed.

Sam and Eric gave Ralph a quizzical look before laughing and chasing each other out of the room.

Ralph shook his head.  It was going to take more than a freshly cleaned face and a new set of clothes to remind the boys of civilized behavior.  Ralph left the room in the same direction the twins were headed.

After a few minutes of walking, Ralph began to hear the sounds of a large group of kids.  Following the noise, Ralph started to notice the light scent of cooked fish tickling his nostrils.  Ralph grinned and quickened his pace towards the sounds and the smell.

When Ralph finally found the food-filled room, he rushed over to the table and piled as much fish as would fit onto his plate.  The meal wasn't as good as the ones he'd had at home in England but it was by far the best one he had had in months.

After Ralph had devoured as much food as his stomach had room for, he stood up and lazily made his way over to the doorway.  The curly-haired officer had just returned from showing a bunch of littluns to the sleeping quarters.

"Had a good dinner, did you?" the officer asked Ralph.

Ralph nodded and smiled up at the officer.

"How long will it take to get back to Britain?" Ralph asked the officer.

"A few weeks, maybe a month," the officer responded.  "Don't worry, little man.  We'll get there safe and sound."

Ralph nodded again and stared dazedly ahead.

The officer laughed.  "You look tired.  Follow me.  I'll take you to the cabins."

Ralph plodded wearily behind the officer for what seemed like hours.  At long last, the officer halted in front of a large room filled mostly with sleeping littluns.

Ralph wandered into the room and found an empty bed.  He curled up under the warm sheets and rested his head against the flat pillow.  Ralph began to close his eyes but a few murmuring sounds kept him awake.

"The beast!  Help!  It's the beast!  It followed us!" a littlun muttered silently.

Ralph turned his head on the pillow and saw Henry on his back, pawing blindly at the air with his hands and feet.  Beside Henry, Percival was tossing and turning in his sheets.

"Help!  It's on the ship!  The beast!" whimpered Henry.

From within the darkness, Roger's voice cried out, "Shut up, cry-baby!"

The noise ceased long enough for Ralph to slip off into a deep sleep.

*     *     *

A soft rumbling sound woke Ralph up.  He sat up in bed and realized that, despite the huge dinner he had had last night, he was hungry again.  He got out of bed and sneaked out of the room, careful not to wake any of the still sleeping littluns.

Ralph walked in the direction of the dining room.  Already he could smell freshly-caught fish being cooked.  Without realizing it, Ralph quickened his pace.

A couple snickers and loud mutterings sounded from a room close-by.  Forgetting his hunger for the moment, Ralph paused outside the doorway.

The voices were unmistakably those of Jack and Roger's.  For a minute, Ralph thought he heard his name mentioned and crept closer to hear better.

"We can't kill Ralph now!  There are two many adults around!" Roger whined.

"We'll just have to do it without them finding out.  Besides, if Ralph tells them what we did to Piggy and Simon and what we tried to do to him, we'll be in trouble anyway!" Jack's voice answered.

"How are we supposed to do it without adults around?" Roger asked.

"All we have to do is catch Ralph alone.  We'll kill him and then run away.  There will be no way to prove that _we _did it," Jack said.

Ralph began to feel faint.  Realizing that he was alone now and not wanting to get caught by the pair, Ralph quickly left his position and entered the dining room.   Ralph took a seat amongst the other hungry kids and thought about all that he had just overheard.

*     *     *

Three days passed and Ralph had not been harmed in any way by Jack or Roger.  They would give Ralph dirty looks across the table at mealtimes but, other than that, they did nothing to Ralph.

Ralph sat out on the ship's deck and stared out at the wide, blue sea.  Henry and Phil were playing with sticks a few feet away from Ralph.

After overhearing Jack and Roger's plot to kill him, Ralph never wandered the ship alone.  Even the company of the two littluns made Ralph feel safer.

Ralph watched the rough, blue waves hit against the side of the boat.  As he watched, he thought about the day when the ship reached the shoreline.  He imagined his mother and father's faces filled with joy at their son's return.  Then Ralph pictured a plump woman standing alone.  Her tears were steaming up her specs and Ralph knew that it was because she would never see her nephew again.  Beside her a thin man was trying to wipe away his tears and, at the same time, hold up his wife who had just fainted.  Their son could never come home.

A loud clamor snapped Ralph out of his dreamy state of mind.  There was a loud banging noise coming from the other side of the ship, followed by the sound of many feet going in that direction.

The first thing he noticed was that Henry and Phil were no where to be seen.  They had gotten up and left sometime while Ralph was having his daydream.

"Ralph!  Ralph!  Come quickly!  You have to see this!"  Jack screamed as he ran into the room.

"What's going on?"  Ralph asked.

"Follow me!"  Jack shouted and he headed off in what Ralph was sure was the wrong direction.

"I don't think so," Ralph mumbled as he turned to go in the opposite direction.

Behind him, Ralph heard a soft rustling sound.  He spun around and had barely enough time to react as Jack tried to slam his dagger into Ralph's flesh.

Ralph's hands went up instinctively to protect himself and he grabbed Jack's hands.  For a long time, the two struggled with Jack's knife positioned above their heads and pointed towards Ralph.

Ralph tripped over the sticks that Henry and Phil had been playing with and both he and Jack were hurled to the ground.  Even while wrestling on the floor, Jack kept a firm grip on his dagger, determined not to let go.  Ralph, fearing for his life if he released his hold on the dagger, was equally as determined.

Jack stood up and jerked Ralph up with him.  Jack pushed Ralph towards the edge of the ship, but Ralph turned and the momentum thrust Jack over the railing so that he was dangling over the edge.

Ralph suddenly found himself no longer fearing for his own life, but fearing for Jacks and he hung on to Jack with one hand.  Jack, however, still only had one goal in mind, and that was to kill Ralph.  With a maddened look in his eyes, Jack raised his knife with his free hand and jabbed it into Ralph's hand.

Ralph cried out and brought his injured hand in close to him.  In doing so, he was forced to let go of Jack and Ralph watched, horrified, as Jack tumbled into the angry waves.

Heart pumping, Ralph raced to the other end of the boat.  The racket that had brought Ralph out of his daydream was getting louder and louder as he got closer and closer.

Up ahead, Ralph could see a bunch of people gathered together in a circle.  Ralph forced his way through the group and saw Roger feigning an injury by clutching his leg and howling in pain.  Two officers were kneeled beside him, trying to calm him down.

Roger ceased his howling when he saw Ralph, alive and well.  Ralph soon realized that everyone was now looking at him and wondering why he had barged through in such a hurry.

"Jack…overboard!  I…tried…save…him!  Help!  This…way!"  Ralph said, trying to catch his breath.

Mustering up all the strength that he could, Ralph ran back in the direction he had just come from.  The officers followed closely behind and the boys, eager for some new excitement, trailed closely behind them.

Ralph reached the spot where Jack had fallen but, to his dismay, Jack was nowhere to be seen.  He had been consumed by the waves.

*     *     *

That night, Ralph was able to sleep peacefully.  The littluns no longer cried out about the beast or stirred restlessly in their sleep.

Ralph woke only once in the middle of the night.  The shuffle of feet in the hallway attracted his attention.  The first thought that went through his mind was Jack coming to get him in the middle of the night.  Remembering the day's events, Ralph immediately pushed that thought aside.  Then, Ralph thought that it must be Roger seeking to do what Jack had failed to.

Ralph silently crept out of his bed and he tip-toed to the doorway.  In one swift motion, he leapt out into the hallway to surprise his attacker.  To Ralph's surprise, it was only little Percival.

"Why are you up so late?"  Ralph asked, sleepily.

"Couldn't sleep," Percival squeaked.

Ralph brought the littlun into the room and set him down on his bed.

"Why can't you sleep?"  asked Ralph.

"The beast!"  whimpered Percival.

Ralph's response was immediate, "There is no beast."

"It followed us onto the ship!  It's the beast!" Percival squealed while huddling under the bed's covers for comfort.

"Sucks to the beast," Ralph yawned.  "There is no beast.  There never was a beast.  But if there was a beast, it's gone now.  It won't bother us."

Ralph looked down at Percival, expecting him to argue but, instead, he found that Percival had fallen asleep.

Ralph grinned and walked over to his own bed.  "Sucks to the beast," he murmured and fell asleep.


End file.
